Ian Sloan (mathematician)

For other people with the same name, see Ian Sloan.
Ian Sloan
Born (1938-06-17) 17 June 1938
Melbourne, Australia
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUniversity of New South Wales
Doctoral advisorSir Harrie Massey

Ian Hugh Sloan AO FAA FRSN (born 17 June 1938) is an Australian applied mathematician.[1]

Early life

Sloan was born on 17 June, 1938, in Melbourne, Australia.[2] His father, originally trained as a civil engineer, became a senior mathematics teacher and housemaster at Scotch College, Melbourne after losing his job during the Great Depression. Sloan has an older brother, Charles. At age 6, his father was appointed as Principal of Ballarat College, and so he moved from Scotch College to Ballarat College, where he spent most of his school years.[1]

Education

Sloan's inspiration to study science and mathematics is drawn from his father who was a mathematics teacher.[3]

After attending Scotch College and Ballarat College,[1] he graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) in 1958 and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with Honours in 1960.[4] He subsequently earned a Master of Science (MSc) in mathematical physics from the University of Adelaide.[4] Sloan then completed a Phd in theoretical physics at University College London under the supervision of Sir Harrie Massey, while working as a research scientist for the Colonial Sugar Refining from 1961 until 1965.[5]

Career

In 1964, Sloan returned to Australia and subsequently joined the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1965 as Lecturer. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1968, Associate Professor in 1973 and then to Scientia Professor in 1999.[6] He was appointed to Personal Chair in Mathematics in 1983 before serving as the Head of the School of Mathematics from 1986 to 1990 and from 1992 to 1993. He is now an Emeritus and part-time professor at UNSW.[4]

His early work was in theoretical nuclear physics, but he moved to applied mathematics, especially numerical analysis. Sloan has published more than 280 papers covering areas such as the numerical solution of integral equations, numerical integration and interpolation, boundary integral equations, approximation theory, multiple integration, continuous complexity theory and other parts of numerical analysis and approximation theory. He has made important contributions to the theory of numerical integration in many dimensions, in recent years concentrating on quasi-Monte Carlo methods.[5][6] The Bencze-Redish-Sloan equation and the Sloan iteration for integral equations are named after him.[7]

He has had many visiting positions including at Cornell University, Erwin Schrödinger International Institute for Mathematics and Physics, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Mittag-Leffler Institute, Isaac Newton Institute, Polytechnic University of Milan, TU Wien, University of Bath, University of Stuttgart, Weierstrass Institute and the University of Maryland, where he completed two sabbaticals.[6]

Sloan has been a member of the editorial board of a number of journals including the SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, Numerische Mathematik, Advances in Computational Mathematics, Journal of Integral Equations and Applications, the International Journal of Geomathematics, Foundations of Computational Mathematics, Computational Methods in Applied Mathematics, the Chinese Journal of Engineering Mathematics, International Journal for Mathematics in Industry and the Journal of Complexity.[6][8]

Between 1998 and 2000, he served as the President of the Australian Mathematical Society.[6] From 2003 to 2007, he was president of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM).[4] After serving as Vice-President and President-elect between 2017 and 2018, Sloan became President of the Royal Society of New South Wales between 2018 and 2020, taking over from Brynn Hibbert.[9]

Personal life

Sloan is married to Jan Sloan, who he met while studying at the University of Melbourne. They have two children, a daughter and a son.[2]

Awards and honours

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b c Newsletter, Asia Pacific Mathematics (26 August 2013). "An Interview with Ian Sloan". Gonit Sora. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Professor Ian Sloan in conversation with Professor Hans Albert Bachor | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  3. ^ "Professor Ian Sloan in conversation with Professor Hans Bachor Transcript" (PDF). www.science.org.au. 16 May 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2026. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  4. ^ a b c d "Emeritus Professor Ian Sloan". UNSW Sites. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  5. ^ a b "Ian H. Sloan". web.maths.unsw.edu.au. Archived from the original on 15 November 2025. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Dick, Josef; Kuo, Frances Y.; Woźniakowski, Henryk, eds. (2018). "Contemporary Computational Mathematics - A Celebration of the 80th Birthday of Ian Sloan". SpringerLink: vii–x. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-72456-0. ISBN 978-3-319-72455-3.
  7. ^ "1315th Ordinary General Meeting of The Royal Society of NSW" (PDF). Royal Society of New South Wales. 6 September 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Emeritus Professor Ian Hugh Sloan". research.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  9. ^ "List of Presidents – The Royal Society of NSW". www.royalsoc.org.au. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  10. ^ "Ian Sloan". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  11. ^ "ANZIAM : The 1997 ANZIAM Medal". www.anziam.org.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  12. ^ "Celebrate Science (Tile Dedication) Ian Sloan | Australian Academy of Science". www.science.org.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  13. ^ "Australian Honours Search Facility". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  14. ^ "The George Szekeres Medal - Australian Mathematical Society". Australian Mathematical Society. Archived from the original on 29 October 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  15. ^ "Australian Honours Search Facility". honours.pmc.gov.au. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  16. ^ a b c "Mathematician Ian Sloan elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW". UNSW Sites. Retrieved 12 January 2026.
  17. ^ Reviews:
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